Part 16 (1/2)
Paige shoved the phone back in her bag and turned to stare out into the dark ocean.
”Tell me more about yourself, Paige. Parts I don't know. What makes you tick?” Mayson asked.
”I'm rather boring.”
”You didn't look boring on that stage.” Mayson cut a glance on Paige that made her squirm. She suddenly wished she was lying down.
”Let's make a game of it. I'll ask a single-word question, you answer with a single word.”
Paige didn't want to tell her anything. Mayson had a grand life, lived in a grand house, and had filthy-rich parents. Anything Paige offered would be so far beneath anything Mayson would have experienced. But she wasn't ready to leave, either. ”Okay. But hand me another beer first.”
Mayson reached for the beer, twisted the top, and handed it to Paige. ”Ready?”
Paige took a long swallow, welcoming the tingles. ”Go.”
”College?”
”Graduated.”
”Major?”
”Business.”
”Impressed. Minors?”
”That was two words. Answer. Three words. Theatrical production. Philosophy.”
”More impressed.”
Paige shrugged and took another swallow. Either this beer was opening the personal portal or Mayson was just that easy to talk to. She chose to believe it was the beer. Wasn't it the truth serum?
”Mother?”
”Three words. Drugs. Wh.o.r.e. Gone.”
Mayson shot her a stare but continued. ”Father?”
”Unknown.”
Compa.s.sion filled Mayson's gaze. Paige looked away and took another drink. She didn't want Mayson's pity. Didn't want anyone to pity her. She sure didn't pity herself. Her grandmother had possibly saved her life. No telling what her alternate life could have been living with a drug addict and countless men in and out of her life.
”Relations.h.i.+ps?”
Paige grunted. ”Pathetic.”
”s.e.x?”
”Masturbation.”
Paige almost gasped with her answer. Had she just said that out loud? The smirk on Mayson's face proved she had. Maybe she needed to stop drinking. Or drink more often so three beers wouldn't make her a cheap drunk.
Mayson chuckled. ”Was that so bad?”
Actually, it wasn't. It felt like shedding the weights of life and tossing them in the ocean. Had she been ashamed of her life all along? Had she somehow suppressed her true feelings all these years?
No. She hadn't. She wasn't ashamed of stripping. It was an honest living. Nor could she be ashamed of being raised by her grandmother. The life her mother had chosen was her decision to make. Not Paige's. It was a decision her mother had to live with. And if she could live with herself, then so could Paige. She had nothing to hang her head about.
”Not as amazing as your life was, I'm sure.” Paige finally succ.u.mbed to the moment and lay back in the sand.
”I'd love to tell you some horrid story about being raised by the nanny because my parents were too consumed with their glamorous life to care about me, but that would be a lie. Fact is, I never had a nanny. I had amazing parents. And cool grandparents.” Mayson rolled onto her side. ”Is that really true about your parents?”
”Yes.”
”I'm sorry.”
And she was. Paige could hear it in her voice. ”Don't be. I can't miss what I don't have.”
”Have you ever wanted to find them?”
Paige considered the question. She had. A few times. She wondered if the drugs had ever killed her mother. Wondered if her father even knew she existed. Maybe he wasn't as bad as her mind allowed her to think.
”Not really. Though I could have siblings out there somewhere.” Paige glanced over at Mayson. ”You could be my half sister.”
Mayson laughed. ”Fat chance. My father is so in love with my mother I'm not sure he notices the female population. They still have date nights.”
”That's cute.”
”Yes, it is. They taught me a lot about love and respect.”
Paige thought about reminding Mayson about her lack of respect, but they had finally reached a point of normal conversation. ”Did you really build that empire all by yourself?”
Mayson gave a solid nod. ”Indeed I did. On a napkin in this little all-night cafe my freshman year in college. It was the only place I could escape to study since my roommates turned our dorm into party central.”
”Why windmills? They're so...boring.” Paige wanted to retract the statement as soon as she heard it leave her lips. Those boring windmills had obviously made Mayson a billionaire. It was a far cry from the route Paige had taken. At least Mayson wasn't mauled nightly.
”There was something about them that infatuated me. I wanted to know how they operated. Why they produced the energy. So I studied, researched, until I learned all there was to know about them. There was only one thing left to do at that point. Design cooler and better models. So I did. Of course I had no idea what to do with my little paper artwork. That's where my dad fit in. He helped me with all the legalities of copyrights and patents, which was a long, drawn-out, gruesome process.” Mayson glanced up at Paige. ”I had just started my senior year when I got my first offer. Six million dollars.”
Paige attempted to keep the shock out of her face. ”How fast did you pack up and leave college?”
Mayson chuckled. ”I didn't leave. I finished.”
Paige was astounded. ”You're kidding! What on earth for?”
”Money can't buy my education. I needed something to fall back on.”
A hiss of amazement exited Paige's lips. ”To fall back on? Wasn't six million dollars cushy enough?”